Get Healthier & Live Better With My Personal Top 10 List

                                      


Are you ready to take control of your health?  Are you tired of feeling like CRAP?  Is the medical system failing you?  Do you not know what steps to take?  No worries mate...follow these 10 principles and you will be kicking disease/sickness to the curb, turning back years, looking and feeling younger, getting super fit, and transforming your body inside and out.  So here it is.. my top 10 ways to achieve optimum health and vitality...

1.  Pray regularly and hang around others who do as well.

2.  Drink 1/2 your bodyweight in ounces or up to 120 ounces daily of filtered/purified water that is free of heavy metals, chlorine and fluoride.

3.  Avoid GMO (Genetically Modified) foods and eat a variety of preferably organic produce like spinach, broccoli, berries, avocados, tomatoes, apples, etc., unprocessed whole grains like quinoa or steel cut oats, raw nuts and seeds, legumes/lentils, healthy cold-processed virgin oils like coconut and olive, grass-fed/farm-raised/hormone and anti-biotic free organic meats, wild salmon, omega 3 loaded tuna, free range eggs and if you consume dairy, make sure it is raw/semi-raw/grass-fed or don't consume at all with the exception of unsweetened Greek yogurt.

4.  Say NO to drugs (of course "street drugs" but also PHARMACEUTICALS)

5.  Supplement daily with a HIGH QUALITY multi-nutrient complex, Greens powder and fish oil.

     AND, don't just supplement with Vitamin D, get out into the sun regularly, but be wise about it. 

6.  Avoid unnecessary and harmful exposure to chemicals/toxins in things like many household products, environmental, vaccinations (especially the flu shot), and radiation.

7.  Ensure that you get 7-9 hours of high quality sleep most nights.  There are many things that can get in the way of this and you have control over just about all of them.

8.  Don't hold onto negative feelings, thoughts, emotions, past experiences, etc.  Things like anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, past pain, jealousy, grief, worry, unhealthy relationships, etc., will eat away at the body and can cause sickness and disease.  In addition to this, find something you are passionate about and LOVE to do and do it regularly as an outlet to release negativity and feel your best.

9.  Exercise at a moderate to high intensity most days of the week and include cardio intervals and full body strength training and conditioning.

10.  Be generous and kind and love people including yourself.  Don't be selfish and self-serving, but continually pour yourself into those around you in the best ways you know how.  Give everything your best and expect the best...don't just hope for it.  Continually declare TRUTH over your life and those around you.  Believe the best and put your hope in something larger than yourself!  Be blessed!

There you have it!  Now you have MOST of my secrets!  :-)  Of course there is a lot more to say on most of these things, but you get the general idea.  Getting healthy shouldn't be a mystery and it IS attainable for everyone!  Now,time to get busy getting healthy!  You only get 1 body and 1 life...you might as well take good care of your body so you can live this life better and more fulfilled!  

Slow & Steady Finishes The Race; Healthy Momentum Wins First Place

I'm baaacck! Did you miss me? Kidding! I have been out of the blog game for 2 years but it's time to fire it back up again. I will be publishing a monthly blog at the beginning of each month that will focus on various aspects of fitness, nutrition, wellness and health. The mission will be to educate, motivate and inspire people to DEFEAT THE FAT in their lives so they can live healthier and better lives. So, let's get started!

March is an interesting month in the fitness world.  There are 2 dynamics going on!  First, you have most of the New Years resolutions dying off like the plague.  It is well-known among fitness professionals that the resolutions rarely last after 2 months.  All of the good intentions default back to bad habits.  The second dynamic is that you have the WAVE of people that have had the revelation that "skin season" (summer) is now around the corner and they are horrified with how much "skin" they are going to be showing.  This then causes them to resort to desperate measures...usually short-term fad diets, crazy fat-burning products, extreme exercise programs where they bite off more than they can chew, etc.  So basically, the healthy habits never get the momentum they need to get established and are laid to rest until "maybe somewhere in the future."  This then causes a default mindset to rise which is something like this:

I am not willing to make sacrifices NOW and establish LONG-TERM healthy habits because it is too hard, takes too long and I am not seeing results "fast enough."  So, I'm going to bypass science and truth and do it the way I feel best so that I can get (try to get) the short-term results I want now. And so the vicious yo-yo cycle begins again.  It's amazing that people will frown upon making healthy changes now and be consistent with those changes over say 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, etc. as if that is too much time to invest in getting results, YET, they will yo-yo diet/exercise for 20 years and get nowhere.  I see it too often where people will finally make some healthy changes, but then before those changes can even stick to become healthy habits, they default back to what they have been doing for years that has never given them any long-term results.

Think of the "debt snowball."  You start chipping away at 1 debt and it may seem like you are making little to no progress because there is so much debt and not a lot of money to pay it down in the short-term.  However, if you are CONSISTENT with paying it down over time you will not only put a big dent in it; you will eventually ELIMINATE it FOR GOOD!  Most people don't get that "snowball" rolling fast enough down the mountain to see that "debt" get paid off completely.  Furthermore, they never get to experience the "magic," which is once you switch your fat-burning switch on and KEEP IT ON, the momentum of the results picks up and compounds...just like interest...the more money you have the more interest you make.  Sadly, too many fall into the trap of hopping onto another mountain like dieting and end up going too fast down the mountain and crash versus a slow, steady pace that builds healthy momentum.  In other words...CRASH DIET!  And then there is the "I'm joining a gym" or "reactivating my membership."  Just like being a member of a church doesn't make you a christian, being a member of a gym doesn't equal fitness. It's also about the right mindset, proper exercise selection, appropriate intensity/time/frequency/sets/reps/rest.  It is not uncommon for people to basically quit their gym membership before it ever really gets started or follow a proper nutrition plan (not a diet) for a week or 2 and then throw in the towel.  The KEY is MOMENTUM doing the right things CONSISTENTLY over a long enough period of TIME to see the desired results.

The good news is that if I am speaking to YOU, no worries, because you can start your HEALTHY INVESTMENT today by getting into the right mindset, following the right nutrition plan and getting the right program design.  Regardless of how much "debt" you have tried to pay off in the past, how many crash diets you have been on or how many gym memberships you have purchased or re-activated, your DECISION today to start BUILDING MOMENTUM and getting that "debt snowball" rolling is WITHIN REACH.  If you establish the healthy foundation NOW, you can save yourself years of "accumulating debt."  ARE YOU READY to do it RIGHT and keep the LONG-TERM goal IN SIGHT?

In Health & Fitness,

Clayton Halls BS-ESS, NSCA-CSCS, ACE-PT, NS

P.S. And 1 more thing on the whole momentum idea...

A Healthy Ferrari

Are you what you eat? 

Maybe you are watching what you eat? 

I guess this means that any food you can watch you can eat? 

If I am even in the ballpark of describing your nutrition so far, you may want to tune in.  Ok, now that I have called you out, it is time to help you.  I’m sorry to rain on your parade, but french fries are not vegetables and froot loops don’t give you a serving of fruit. 

Seriously, there is a lot of misinformation out there.  Consider the food pyramid…turn it upside down, shift this over there, take this out, move this down, why isn’t this in there?  I think you get my point.  It can be like trying to find your way through a dark jungle.  This is why it is good sometimes to just breakdown and let someone who knows what they are talking about help you. 

“I don’t need help with my nutrition, I know what I should be eating.”  Ok know-it-all, then why are you 50 pounds heavier than you were 5 years ago and on your way to some major health issues? 

Alright, what I am trying to say is that whether you are lost in the jungle with your nutrition or you think you already know what to eat, you can benefit significantly from someone like qualified personal trainer or holistic nutrition specialist.  Hey, it may even save your life and will surely add life to your years and years to your life.

Of course, nutrition may not be the only thing that you need to consider getting on track with… 

If you are anywhere between a couch potato and a bodybuilder…listen up!  It is not just about putting premium fuel in your Ferrari and expecting it to get you to where you want to go.  You also have to take it into the shop for “regular maintenance” or in other words, get your butt up off the couch or out of the chair and get moving.  That Ferrari does no good just “sitting in the garage” right?

You take your car into the shop, so why not take your body into the “shop?”  How much more important is your body than your car?  Take proper care of it and it will not only last you a long time, but also give you many quality miles.  A qualified health AND fitness professional may be your solution to putting the right fuel in your body and combining that with getting all the parts working the way they were designed to work.  Remember, you can’t drive a Ferrari if it stays parked on the couch.  Take it out and drive it and put premium fuel in the tank, unless of course you are content with putting around on an over-sized moped. 

You don’t get to trade this Ferrari in for a newer model…you just need to take proper care of the one you’ve got.  It’s time to REV up the engine and transition to some premium fuel…what are you waiting for?

Eat More and Exercise Less To Lose Weight?

What?  This concept is a monumental shift for most people as usually, when someone is trying to lose weight, they buy into the idea that they have to restrict calories and exercise their brains out if they want to shed the FLUB.  Ok, let me give you an extreme example that will truly put this into perspective for you.  I had a client a few years ago that was very frustrated that she had been gaining weight for 1 year.  She thought she was doing everything perfectly, yet she still gained 10 pounds in 1 year.  What was she doing?  Well, she exercised for an hour or more per day 6-7 days a week and ate under 1,000 calories a day!  WOW, I sometimes eat that much in one sitting.  Anyways, I'm sure the average person would be stunned that she GAINED weight doing this.  Not me!  I knew what her body was up to.  What do you think was happening in her body?  You have to keep in mind that our bodies are designed with incredible complexity.  They are pretty smart too!  You see, when our bodies sense that we are not eating enough calories to "fuel the fire," it goes on preserve mode.  It turns down heat and uses significantly less "fuel" for the fire.  Essentially, it holds onto fat like a bear hibernating in the winter.  It realizes that if it keeps burning fat, there will eventually be nothing left of it because of the minimal amount of calories coming in.  Some people may lose weight initially, but you can't get away with tricking your body forever.  That is why DIEts never work long-term.  People, you can only trick your body so long before it realizes what you are doing to it. 

Now, regarding exercise, we are basically looking at the same idea...especially considering there is the combo of a lot of exercise and a little amount of calories.  My client's body was like one of those little economical cars on cruise control when she exercised.  Her body was in preservation mode and was burning minimal fuel as she exercised.  She was burning about as many calories as a bear does while snoring in hibernation.  To make a long story short, as soon as we started to bump up her calories and shorten her exercise duration and add in an extra rest day, her body began burning fat like an old muscle car burns fuel in a wide open throttle.  You may not be this extreme, but many people fall somewhere into the category of not eating enough and exercising too much or too long.

You don't necessarily need to become a calorie counter, but you do need to understand how much food you should be eating everyday to unlock your metabolic furnace.  And it is not just any calories, but the right calories and combination of protein, carbs and fats.  That is for another day though.  So, a good place to start is take your bodyweight and multiply it by 10.  You should at least be eating around that number of calories per day.  Then, you can add on 10-25% depending on your activity level.  If you are trying to gain weight, that is a whole different story.  Then, you should do your best to break this number into 4-7 equal portions.  How many times you eat depends on your age, gender, activity level and your daily schedule.  Remember, it takes calories to burn calories.  You can't burn fat if you're running on fumes. 

When it comes to exercise, the intensity is more important than the duration.  It is also critical that you take rest days so your body can recover and progress.  Unless you are training for a long distance sport or event, more than 60 minutes can have adverse effects on your body.  As a matter of fact, I reccomend 30-45 minutes of higher intensity exercise most days of the week taking 1-2 days off for rest as needed.  You burn just as many, if not more calories in less time and get your metabolism charged up more post-exercise.  Steady state exercise, especially for 60 min or more can cause cortisol release in your body which can cause your body to hold onto fat while you exercise and burn muscle.  It can also cause your body to go on cruise control and conserve calories burned during exercise.  I reccomend interval training (H.I.I.T.) for most of your cardio days, and on your resistance training days, you should minimize rest time inbetween sets.  String the exercises together and keep moving.  Get the job done in 30-45 minutes.  You will spend less time and get better results. 

So yes, I am telling you to exercise less (but more intense) and eat more (of good quality foods) to unlock the fat burning furnace in your body.  I am proof that it works.  There you go, I have just given you one of my secrets to staying lean and fit!  Now, go rev up that muscle car engine! 

Ditch The Resolutions As You Know Them

          Honestly now, lets call New Year's Resolutions what they really are...WISHFUL THINKING!  People have a habitual tendancy to start every year off with good intentions, but you know what they say about good intentions don't you?  "The road to hell is paved with them."  Why don't you quit kidding yourself every year with making another round of New Year's Resolutions, only to realize at the end of the year that all they amounted to were good ideas on paper.  I've got a challenge for you...why don't you make this year different? 

          Before you make the resolution (and don't make more than 3), take 3 action steps towards your goal and do these for 3 straight weeks before you even decide that it is a resolution.  Don't even give the resolution "credibility" until you have "built its reputation."  Prove to yourself first that it is truly worthy of even considering it a resolution.  After 3 weeks, you should have solidified some healthy habits through implementing your action steps.  So, then after 3 weeks you can say that you are "in the process" of creating your resolution.  Now, consider that most people fail with their resolutions after 6 weeks, so lets double that to 12 weeks or 3 months.  After 3 weeks, your focus is now 3 months where you continue your 3 action steps and add to them 3 more.  You also need to tell at least 3 people that can hold you accountable your first 3 action steps as well as your second 3. 

          You should write down your 3 action steps each time and put them up in 3 different places that you will see EVERY DAY.  Each day, take 3 minutes to BOLDLY DECLARE those action steps with declarations like..." I will not fail to (fill in the blank)."  "I will not allow the enemy to rob me of accomplishing (fill in the blank)."  "I am going to make (fill in the blank) a reality and not allow myself to make any excuses."  Create your own declarations and speak them boldly.  If you want to even get to calling something a resolution, you must convince yourself everyday that it is more important to get to your goal than not.  You must also dig deep for a conviction that you do not want to face the consequences of not achieving your goal.  Remember, your true resolution doesn't even get established until 90 days after the year starts.  After 90 days of following your action steps, you will have built a foundation that your New Year's Resolutions can stand on. 

          You don't want to just prop up your resolutions like the government is doing to our economy.  If so, you are just setting yourself up for failure.  I encourage you to make this year different.  Your resolutions are important because they are positive changes that are on your heart to make.  They are things that can make your life better, but you will NEVER see them come to pass if you go about them the same way year after year.  Listen to what is on your heart and turn it into a reality so you can live a better life.  Don't waste another year with wishful thinking.  Now is a perfect time to start becoming a better you!  You could change your life and have the potential to be a better version of yourself this time next year.  Don't wait...a year goes by fast and most New Year's Resolutions don't last!

It's Good To Be B.A.D.

It’s Christmas season and I want to know if you have been B.A.D. this year?  No, I’m not referring to you getting gifts from Santa or not, I am talking about 3 critical components of good health…Balanced, Alkalized and Detoxed.  The typical person has heard these words but has little understanding of what they really mean and how important they are in maintaining exceptional health.  To put it into perspective, consider someone who is not B.A.D.  They are an imbalanced, acidic pool that is backed up with toxic waste.  They have little defense against anything that attacks the body and their body is a breeding ground for health destroying villains.    Let’s take a quick look at how to be B.A.D.

Balance:  This does not mean standing on one leg and it often gets bounced around in the nutrition world, but what does it really mean?  Well, first of all, a balance implies there is a continuum and you should fall somewhere between both ends of the spectrum.  However, in our culture, too often people are at one end of the spectrum or the other.  For example, an immune system that is out of balance on the high side can be linked to auto-immune disorders that can be destructive to health.  On the flip side, immune systems that are out of balance on the low side leave you with little defense against serious illnesses that can be life-threatening and debilitating.  The body/immune system can get out of balance from a lack of getting enough of the right nutrients, not enough exercise, too little sleep,  too many chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, man-made food/drink additives, household products, medications), high levels of stress and deep-rooted spiritual issues like anger, jealousy, unforgiveness and past hurts.

Alkalize:  There was a book written by a guy titled, “Alkalize or Die.”  Now, that is a little extreme, but there is some truth in it.  The body can basically be acidic or alkaline.  You want it more on the alkaline side, otherwise you are asking for trouble.  The majority of people tend to be on the acidic side which is due to lifestyle factors like: eating too many processed high fat and high sugar foods, drinking an excess of coffee/tea/softdrinks, not drinking enough water, meds and other chemicals I mentioned earlier, high levels of stress and there are more.  When the body is acidic, it is an invitation for devilish medical conditions like cancer to come in and take over.  It provides an environment in your body where evil intruders are welcome.  On the contrary, an alkalized body is a body that is a clean, green, mean, disease-fighting machine.  Picture your body as a garden of health that flourishes with goodness when you keep it alkalized. 

Detox:  The average person is exposed to over 500 toxins a day in the air we breathe, food we eat, things we drink, products we use, stress we have and internal baggage we hold onto.  You can’t avoid these dirty little demons altogether, but you certainly can minimize your exposure to them as well as attack and eliminate the ones you are exposed to.  If you fail to dispose of these toxins, they WILL store up in your body like Southerners do with groceries when it snows.  They will not just hang out in your body innocently either.  Their mission is to destroy you whether it takes days, weeks, months or years.  The more toxins you allow to take up residence in your body and the longer you allow them to stay there, the worse your chances get of living a healthy life.   If this wasn’t bad enough, the average person also  has 2-10 stored meals sitting in their colon at anytime.  That is 2-10 pounds of toxic sludge making itself at home on your living room couch.  When you realize that over half of your immune system is in your colon, you can understand that your body can get out of whack pretty fast without proper elimination of this wicked toxic waste. 

So, if you want to be B.A.D., then you should strongly consider these ammunition bullets against being G.O.O.D. (Gastro-intestinal despair/Over-loaded with toxins/Ongoing  health and life problems/Diseased body).

·         Drink half your bodyweight in ounces of filtered/purified water daily.

·         Eat properly harvested organic fruits, vegetables and unprocessed whole grains throughout the day.

·         Minimize or eliminate foods and drinks that have man-made chemicals in them.

·         Eat healthy fats like extra virgin first cold-pressed organic olive oil, flax seeds or oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, natural peanut butter, avocados to name many.

·         Fill nutrient gaps and keep your body in healthy order with plant-based supplementation such as a Greens and Multi-nutrient complex supplement. 

·         Do your best to use only natural products made with things from nature.

·         Make sure you are getting 7-9 hours of quality sleep every night…there are several practical things and natural remedies that you can use to help you accomplish this.

·         Exercise regularly…5-7 times per week for 20-40 minutes with proper intensity.

·         Find creative ways to keep stress controlled and do these things daily.

·         Quit holding onto DEAD weight (anger, jealousy, unforgiveness, past hurt, etc.)  and release it to God so you don’t carry it around anymore and allow it rob you of living a healthy, good life.

·         Enjoy life by: discovering your true purpose and acting on it, bettering yourself daily through reading, listening, prayer and practicing the good things you have learned, and building healthy relationships.

It’s time to be B.A.D. and yes, I am giving you full permission to be B.A.D.  Now, get going with your B.A.D. self and talk to you next year!

In Health,

Clayton Halls

Big Pharma, The FDA and Nutritional Supplements

First of all, my apologies for missing the blog last month...believe me, it was not because I had a lack of material  to write about.  I have actually begun work on a book that I hope to finish sometime in the latter part of next year.  Anyhow, this month I want to highlight a MAJOR nutritional issue that is currently a hot topic and will only get hotter.  In short, it boils down to greed and a complete lack of care for human lives from some individuals that have a lot of authority to make powerful decisions.  As you can see by the title of this blog, I am talking specifically about Big Pharma (Personal Health of Americans Risked by Meds and Alliances), The FDA (Food and Death Association), and supplements specifically designed to improve nutrition and health.

One of the current issues at hand in the medical world is that they have no "latest and greatest cutting-edge" poison, I mean medicine, in the pipeline to boost their profits.  So, what do they do?  They turn on the nutritional supplement world in a money-hungry attempt to not only discredit nutritional supplements, but to try to pass legislature that would grossly OVER-regulate them making it extremely difficult for most of the companies to survive and keep the right supplements on the market with the exception of a few of the nutritional companies that are actually owned by.....Big Pharma companies.  If the medical world (Big Pharma) and The government (FDA) join forces on this, it could be disaterous for American health.  As most people should already know, Big Pharma, the FDA and the media are all "in bed with each other" as Big Pharma pays big bucks to the media to deceptively advertise, and they also pay off those in the FDA to approve their poison regardless of studies that showed the drugs to be dangerous.  Do you know how many people died from Vioxx before they pulled it off the market?  How about 50,000.  It is an absolute crime what the FDA lets on the market and what Big Pharma pushes through in a complete ignorance of human life in order to gain big profits. 

Now, getting back to the attack on nutritional supplements.  The medical world has come out with some incredibly subjective, misleading and erroneous studies to try to show that...get this...that nutritional supplements are not only unneccessary, but also harmful.  The medical world has the audacity to claim this all the while their meds kill off well over 100,000 people a year in addition to making hundreds of thousands more live with a reduced quality of life.  Big Pharma also doesn't like the fact that nutritional supplements pull a lot of money away from them and they want that pie as well as the several they are already hoarding.  If the American public only saw much of the behind the scenes cover ups on prescription drugs, artificial sweeteners, canola oil and hundreds of others that the FDA has unethically allowed onto the market and Big Pharma has PUSHED through, their would be no faith in meds or the FDA.  The bottom line is that without nutritional supplements, this country's health would go much further down the tubes than it already has.  Big Pharma and the FDA are helping to make Americans more unhealthy and that of course keeps them in business by profiting on destroying the health of many.  I won't even get into chemo, radiation, unneccessary surgeries, vaccines and a disheartening lack of nutritional therapy in the medical world in this blog.  I will stop here for now and leave you with one of the letters I wrote to the government in regards to the recent legislature that is trying to be PUSHED through in a very deceptive way.  Here you go...

Dear Government Officials,

Senator Durbin’s proposed amendment regarding supplements is not only incredibly outrageous, but also dangerous to the health of Americans.  Over half of Americans rely on supplements to promote better health and I am one of them.  Senator Durbin obviously has a secret motive for trying to pass this bill which is probably getting a huge payout from one of the drug companies.  If anything, he should go after the drugs that are killing hundreds of thousands of people every year.  He wants to make it harder for people to be healthy, especially the lower class Americans and is not concerned with all the people dying from meds.  That is scary to think that there is someone in a high political ranking that does not care about the health of Americans or them dying.  It is mortifying to think of all the poisonous chemicals and toxins that the FDA allows into our foods, but they want to be overly strict when it comes to plant-based nutrients?  The FDA and drug companies are corrupted by the all-mighty dollar and Senator Durbin is right there with them.  Why would he care about supplements unless he is getting some BIG incentive behind the scenes?  There is no logical explanation besides that.  With the horrendous health-care (disease-care) system in our country and all the hazardous toxins they allow into our food and drink supply, we NEED supplements to ensure we stay healthy.  If Senator Durbin actually cared about his fellow Americans and wanted to properly serve his country, he would be fighting against the FDA and Big Pharma that are killing off Amercians like the bubonic plague.  Whatever his motives are, they are not good and he is abusing his power and trying to put Amercians' health in a very compromising situation.  He shouldn't even have the right to propose something so ludicrous.  The most likely worst case scenario with supplements is that someone just wastes their money on a bad one, but with medication, the worst case scenario is that people die.  This proposed legislature needs to be stopped to protect the rights of Americans to be healthy.  If Senator Durbin really wants to do something good for Americans, he needs to first realize the truth...that meds kill people and plant-based supplements help people.  What's next, is he going to try to pass a bill that makes it illegal for us to grow certain fruits and vegetables in our back yards?  This dangerous ideology that he and many others have must be stopped before it goes any farther.  It is putting the quality of peoples' lives at risk that includes not only their health, but their financial situation considering the many thousands that make a living selling supplements which has helped to stimulate the economy much more than the "stimulus package.".  This proposed amendment would create a huge rippling effect that would cause unnecessary harm to Americans.  Just leave the supplements alone and focus on something that will actually help Americans; not hurt them. 

A Very Concerned American,

Clayton Halls